"I don't know whether Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can fix things, but I do know that Barack Obama and Joe Biden won't even try – and that therefore a vote for Obama is a vote for the certainty of national collapse. Look at Lower Manhattan in the dark after the storm, and try to imagine what America might look like after the rest of the planet decides it no longer needs the dollar as global reserve currency. For four years, we have had a president who can spend everything but build nothing. Nothing but debt, dependency, and decay....In different ways the response to Hurricane Sandy and Benghazi exemplify the fundamental unseriousness of the world's superpower at twilight. Whether or not to get serious is the choice facing the electorate Tuesday."

Elections, like ideas, have consequences and our country faces a big one this week. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have spent the past six months battling it out across the country and America is undoubtedly ready for a break. For myself, and many of my conservative evangelical friends, we hope that it will be the Obama-Biden ticket taking a much-needed vacation come January 20th, 2013.

I've been blessed with the opportunity to come across and befriend some pretty remarkable Christian guys over the past 5 years. From college to seminary to working at various churches to writing for organizations like American Enterprise Institute and now entering a full-time career in the media, God has brought good friends, wise mentors, and equally-mischievous co-conspirators across my path time after time. I consider myself a collector of smart, funny, and thoughtful Brothers in Christ.

What follows is a compilation of why many of those God-fearing evangelical patriots will be casting their ballot for Romney/Ryan - a Mormon/Catholic ticket - in less than 48 hours. There's no gimmick here, no "big picture" lesson. Just the thoughts of a whole mess of articulate, engaged citizens who obey Romans 13 - "respect the governing authorities, for they are appointed by God" - and even more so than most because they realize that in the United States of America...'we the people' arethe governing authorities.

God never changes, but political offices do. We believe it is a Christian's duty to vote, and if we're supposed to vote, if we're supposed to do all things as if for Christ Himself, we're going to take the duty - one that people have fought and died to procure - seriously.

(Note: due to the delicate nature of a few of these guys' jobs, some last names have been left out.)

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I'm voting for Mitt because of President Obama's failure of leadership. He told us he would cut the deficit in half in four years. It's grown in each year. He told us he would be above partisanship, yet he hasn't even been able to pass a budget, even with two years of full control of the Congress. He told us he would close Guantanamo Bay, pass immigration reform, and bring unemployment down to 6%. He hasn't done any of these things. We can explain away why he didn't accomplish these things, but the facts are clear: He didn't. My dad always told me that the greatest virtue of great leaders is their commitment to honoring their word. He hasn't. Why would we give him four more years of broken promises?

-Chris in Denver

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When I consider whom to vote for, I start by asking whether each candidate is a person of integrity. This year, our nation is blessed with four candidates who are truly "top of the ticket" -- all good men who genuinely love their families, their neighbors, and this country. I also ask how each stands on the foundational principles of our nation, best summed up in words familiar to us all: the Creator has endowed each of us with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and government's purpose is to secure these rights. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan stand on the right side of each of these five fundamental propositions, and President Obama and VP Biden are on the wrong side.

(1) On Life, gone are the days of Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame; this year's Democratic Convention made clear the absolutist abortion-on-demand agenda that has captured his party. Mitt Romney will enact legislation that protects mothers and unborn babies, and will appoint judges who will end the reign of Roe v. Wade.

(2) On Liberty, President Obama's administration has ramped up the regulation and red-tape that is killing this economy, and more is on the way as Obamacare comes online. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan believe in lower taxes and less regulation; fewer mandates and more choices.

(3) For too many today, happiness is out of reach because they can't find work no matter how hard they look, or the work they have doesn't pay as well as their last job, while prices at the pump and grocery store climb ever higher. President Obama has had four years to fix this mess, and now we're $5 trillion deeper in debt while still stuck in a recession. And all he suggests for the next four years is more of the same. Mitt Romney is a lifelong businessman; he knows how to get this economy growing again, and he'll open the doors of opportunity and prosperity for the middle-class families who have been struggling these past five years.

(4) The institutions which advance the Creator's cause and share His compassion -- the people of faith and religious groups that serve the sick, the poor, the hungry and homeless -- are seeing their fundamental freedom to define themselves and their mission come under attack. This is not just about the HHS mandate; it is about a hierarchy of values which sacrifices religious liberty to political conformity. Ironically, the demand for tolerance of certain moral claims leads to intolerance of any person or organization that rejects those claims in favor of traditional Biblical teaching.

(5) Finally, the candidates have very different visions for the role of government in our lives. Barack Obama embraces the progressive vision that sees government's job as redistributing wealth and securing economic equality, taking from those whom they decide have too much to give to those with less. In contrast, Mitt Romney shares the founders' vision for our republic: a flourishing civil society and a dynamic free enterprise system supported by a government that secures the rights and conditions necessary for both to thrive. I believe the founders' vision aligns with the Biblical vision for government: ordered liberty grounded in the inherent and undeniable dignity of every human person as a unique and beautiful child of a loving and just God.

Life and liberty, more jobs and more freedom -- that's why I'm voting for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

- Daniel in Milwaukee (while wearing a sweater-vest)

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A thousand reasons, but here's one: Mitt Romney is all about the bottom line. Whether it's finance, the Olympics, or the search for the missing daughter of a friend Romney leads with an unwavering focus on results. Someday, I hope Republicans nominate another Reagan, a leader whose vision for the country emanates from deep-seeded moral conviction. Romney is no Reagan; at a time such as ours he may be better. He is a man whose commitment to results will supersede both party and ideological purity, providing the chance at serious entitlement reform and a balanced budget.

Every American needs to reckon with the fact that the wealth and prosperity we have historically enjoyed did not come from nowhere. We have not deserved it by virtue of being born in this country and it has not been the result of chance. It is first a gracious providence given to us by our Creator. Second, it has been the result of choices of those who came before us; choices that have encouraged the creativity and entrepreneurial genius of the American people under the guidance of the rule of law. It is, therefore, not a given that our prosperity will continue in this land regardless of the choices that we make. We cannot continually pass the buck down the road in regards to our national debt. It is a profound social injustice to burden later generations with the poor stewardship of our nation's finances that we have seen the last 4 years. Mitt Romney will make the hard choices to get spending under control and create an environment that encourages investment and job creation.

-John in St. Louis

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This is an election between two technocrats--equal, I fear, in self-confidence, but differing, it seems, in personality, experience, and rhetoric. Notice how I didn't say "principles."

Which is not to say their principles don't differ. In an election such as this, I see two choices: one man with a clear-cut philosophy I detest (Obama), and one man with a murky mish-mash of populist plans that I can at least half-endorse (Romney). In a battle over principled progressive technocracy and culturally conservative technocracy, there's a struggle of principles going on somewhere. But where oh where is my barometer?

So back to the other stuff. One man has proven a failure in governance in nearly every category other than oratory (and lately, even in that). The other has proven competent and successful across the full scope of his life but in one area in particular: investing. Mitt Romney has seen the real, genuine process of economic value creation time and time again. He has seen the flux of economic success and economic failure, with something of his own at stake.

He may be a technocrat first and conservative second, but at least knows a little something about creative destruction. Because creative destruction is precisely what this bloated behemoth of a government needs.

I am voting for Mitt Romney on November 6. As a Lutheran of the Missouri Synod and a student currently at a Lutheran seminary, the current president and his agenda go against my convictions and conscience. I believe in the sanctity of unborn life and the limited role of government; these are the two main issues for me in any election. This election I will support Governor Romney because he believes, as I do, that life is sacred and worth protecting even in the womb, and that government has a proper but limited role in American society.

I feel the moral obligation to intervene and help steer the country away from the false promises of President Obama and save this country from certain implosion. The question of how the federal government provides a safety net for the disadvantaged who are unable to help themselves, while at the same time, encourage entrepreneurship and individual responsibility must be answered. Is the American experience truly “exceptional” or are we an imperialist culture characterized by decadence, slothfulness and apathy? The state of affairs in the United States is abandoning our bedrock principles, and instead, embracing the comfortable but deceptive ideals of moral relativism, victim identification, and outcome equivalence. The political nature of mankind and the ramifications of governmental policy will directly shape the freedom and liberty of American citizens. The majority of this country is desperately yearning for leaders to emerge that are able to passionately communicate their ideas in an intelligent, comprehensive and engrossing manner -- Romney is a leader that can do this.

While no political party is perfect, and no candidates are right in all they believer or affirm, at the end of the day every American citizen must exercise their God-given responsibility to participate in the selection of our leaders. To not participate is to fail, given our democratic system of government, to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's," and thus to fall short of the New Testament's clear admonition that we be the best of citizens that we can be.

The question before us in this election is, "Which set of values do the individual candidates and their respective parties embrace that most clearly parallel the values Scripture calls us to embrace?"

Again, no one party has a lock or monopoly on the moral values Scripture teaches. Each succeeds and each falls short in one or more areas. So we are then left to ask, "Which candidate and party in this election most closely embraces critical biblical values and which one falls short?"

The values of the protection of innocent and unborn life, upholding the sanctity of marriage as exclusively between a man and a women, the protection of individual religious liberties and the right of churches to exercise their own moral conscience without government intrusion, the acknowledgment that our freedoms and rights come from God and not from government, and the right of Israel to exist in their own land without threat of annihilation, are critical values that must be protected, and all are at stake in this election.

In addition policies that produce and encourage a robust and growing economy that results in increased opportunities and the lifting of all groups, is in the long run, one of the best (though by no means the only) remedies available to ending the inequities of racism, poverty, and economical disparities in our society.

Though I have doctrinal differences, I believe in this election the ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan most closely parallel and support those important and cherished values and thus will receive my endorsement and my vote.

There are many reasons why one should vote for Governor Romney. His many successes in the private sector turning around what is failing, his grasp on basic economics, his defense of and belief in the significance of marriage are all huge. However, Governor Romney’s commitment to life is by far the most important and will shape how he views everything else. How can we have a meaningful conversation about a right to healthcare, a right to a minimum wage, or any other right without protecting the fundamental right to life? The answer is we cannot. Governor Romney understands that protecting every person regardless or size or development is fundamental and he would carry the pro-life cause and conversation in a meaningful direction. President Obama is the most radical pro-abortion candidate this country has ever seen. His pro-abortion position is in absolute contradiction to the Bible’s clear teaching that every person is created in God’s image and has inherent worth. Science, scripture and common sense teach us that it is time to recognize the right to life of every person but especially the most vulnerable and defenseless. The slaughter of over 50 million babies and counting must be stopped as soon as possible and Governor Romney gets it and will work towards it.

As an evangelical Christian I have put a lot of thought into the question of whether or not I should vote for Mitt Romney for president. The fact that he is a Mormon means that he believes something very different from the faith I affirm; he prays to a different god.

While these things are certainly troubling to me, I am voting to elect a president and not a pastor. Barack Obama’s policies have been disastrous and in many cases immoral. Mitt Romney will reverse many of those policies. Romney’s beliefs coincide with those of a Christian on abortion, religious liberties, financial responsibility and marriage.

God has always accomplished His purposes through men who worship other gods. The future of this country and freedom for my children may well be determined by this election. Therefore, there are larger issues at stake than Mitt Romney’s faith. And should Romney win I will certainly pray that he comes to trust in the Jesus Christ of the Bible who will one day return to rule this whole earth in truth and righteousness.

Obama has failed the country for 4 years. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are honest men who are committed to serving this country with integrity. Romney & Ryan are committed to a free country of free people, through economic and religious freedom. Romney & Ryan are the best shot this country has at achieving prosperity.

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What is “Mere Conservatism”?

The basic ideas, ideals, and values that generally define and characterize the central tenets of what today might be termed "modern conservative thought."

We believe that a proper understanding of history, economics, and theology leads to certain conclusions. Many of these are the same conclusions our Founding Fathers arrived at in constructing a "more perfect union."